As well as help and support within the University and the Student Unions, there is a lot of external support for students regarding health issues and wellbeing.

NHS 111

This is the NHS urgent help advice line. It’s fast, easy and free. Call 111 when you need medical help fast but it’s not a 999 emergency.

Medical Centres

For contact with your GP or a nurse practitioner, contact the surgery you are registered with.

Samaritans

Samaritans is a registered charity aimed at providing emotional support to anyone in emotional distress, struggling to cope, or at risk of suicide throughout the United Kingdom and Ireland, often through their telephone helpline. Please call 116 123, which is free to call, or you can email them at jo@samaritans.org.

Big White Wall

Wherever you are located, you can access free, 24/7 online support for issues around mental health and wellbeing. The Big White Wall (BWW) is a Care Quality Commission registered service recognised nationally through awards by the NHS and is a safe environment overseen by qualified therapists called Wall Guides.

Kent students have free access to BWW. In order to gain access to this service click on the BWW link using your Kent email address to gain access only. As part of the registration process, do not use your KENT account password for this service, instead please use the following code: KENT1. Note, you may, upon completion of the registration process change your contact email address to a non-Kent email account. Big White Wall take privacy very seriously, so please read their privacy policy for more information.

How to access Big White Wall

Please use the following code: KENT1

We know that the last few weeks have been difficult for you, and many of you are worried about sitting exams and completing other assessments. As a result of close working between Kent Union and the University, we are pleased to announce that Kent will be implementing a no-detriment policy that will safeguard the contribution of your academic performance in the outcome of your studies for this academic year.

This is an extraordinary time and the uncertainties brought about by the impact of COVID-19 have led us to develop a framework which is both flexible and academically robust. It is also designed to support you through a range of scenarios and individual circumstances. We know you have all been affected in different ways and the circumstances you find yourselves in will vary from person to person. Our approach will hopefully give you comfort in knowing that under the no-detriment policy your final average overall mark for the stage will not be impacted adversely as a consequence of the current conditions caused by COVID-19.

These changes come from the incredible amount of feedback, discussions and cooperative work from Kent Union’s elected full-time officers and from our academic colleagues. We would like to thank you for your input, patience and understanding. We are confident that we have developed a set of principles which will ensure that you will not be academically disadvantaged in any way during the summer assessment period.

We would ask you also to note that due to the rules of professional recognition status in a limited number of subjects, we may not be permitted to apply the ‘safety net’ policy to specific professionally recognised programmes. These are not decisions that we can control and if this is the case you will be communicated with separately by your School.

Further details on this no-detriment policy will be made available by Wednesday 8 April 2020 at the latest, but we wanted to let you know as soon as possible that this approach is being adopted. In such uncertain times, we hope that this is one thing less for you to worry about.

Please do refer to our Exams and assessments FAQs page – we will be continuing to update them.

With our very best wishes

Christina and Sasha

Professor Christina Hughes                             Sasha Langeveldt
Interim Director of Student Services              President, Kent Union

A virtual pitching final saw four student start-ups share the prize money in this year’s Business Start-Up Journey.

Measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic meant the programme’s usual Dragons Den format had to switch to a virtual contest, with students pre-recording their pitches for submission to the judges.

The businesses were scored in categories including sustainability, scalability, innovation and financial viability.

From a strong field, the winners were:

• John Arceno and Alan Gurung with YCampus – a way to bring empty high street shops back into use as multi-purpose hubs
• Lewis Squire with Reality Room – using Augmented Reality (AR) to rethink Escape Rooms and bring education to life.

Lewis, a Stage 2 Kent Business School student from Canterbury, John, a final year Biology student, and Alan, in his final year studying Philosophy and Politics, will receive £1,000 per business towards their start-up costs.

Runners up were:

• Phoebe Thompson with By Phoebe – a new product to keep false eyelashes dry in the shower
• Molly Walsh with Ignite – a vegan-friendly and sustainable pre and post-workout drink.

Phoebe, a Stage 4 KBS Business and Management student from Medway campus, and Molly, a Stage 2 Sports Science student also from Medway, receive £500 each towards their start-up costs.

Other businesses in the pitching finals included RR Collective, a sustainable fashion business upcycling Nigerian rubbish into jewellery and Talking Heads, a documentary film exploring ways to reunite a fragmented UK society.

Lewis said: “The Business Start Up Journey has been an incredible experience allowing us to create and develop our business ideas. Through the help of the amazing mentors, program leaders and industry professionals, I have been able to build The Reality Room idea into something tangible. Thank you to all the judges for the feedback and opportunity to progress The Reality Room further! Now the next steps in developing the software and hardware in order to bring it to life!”

Judges included Daniel Rubin, founder of the international footwear brand, Dune London, Dean Johnson, Managing Director of international medi-tech company Haag Streit UK and Emay Enemokwu, a KBS graduate and Business Start-Up Journey finalist who founded the successful streetwear brand Jehu-cal.

The Business Start-Up Journey is supported by philanthropic donation including funding from Santander Universities. It is part of the University’s Study Plus programme and open to students from any subject or level of study.

The Business Start-Up Journey takes students through all the stages of setting up a business – from finding and testing an idea to building marketing plans and understanding financials. It offers a combination of exciting practical and interactive workshops and one-to-one support.

All of the finalists will continue to be supported by the ASPIRE (Accelerator Space for Innovation and Responsible Enterprise) which is the University’s flagship space for student business support and entrepreneurial skills development.

Those ways include

• One to one support from the ASPIRE team of entrepreneurs in residence
• Access to mentors
• Financial grants to support for attending relevant expos and conferences
• Funding

Find out more about the ASPIRE and the Business Start-up Journey

Register your interest in next year’s Business Start-Up Journey programme.

Thank you very much for your understanding and patience whilst we have been continuing to review our examinations processes and finalise everything necessary to accommodate the move to online. The examination timetable is now available to view via the Student Data System (SDS). Should there be further changes to the timetable, we will let you know by email.

Please also be assured that we have undertaken a review of our instructions to Boards of Examiners in order to ensure appropriate mitigation due to the COVID-19 crisis. Further information on this as well as guidance about how your examinations will be delivered online and how you will access, complete and submit these, will be sent to you soon. In all we do, we are committed to the principle that your academic progress will not be disadvantaged due to these circumstances.

If you have any questions about your timetable, please contact your Academic School. If you have any concerns or issues regarding your ability to undertake your exams online, then in such cases you should contact exams2020@kent.ac.uk.

We hope that you all continue to be safe and well and adjusting to studying online and please keep referring to our Coronavirus – information for students pages which we are updating whenever we have more information.

With my very best wishes to you and your families.

Yours sincerely,

Mary Hughes

Academic Registrar

Studying while self isolating can be difficult as it is but when you have other priorities such as childcare then you will need to rethink how you work.

The first thing to do is to establish a routine and stick to it. Children find routine very reassuring and calming so keep your getting-up, meal and bed times the same as normal and make sure that school work is still getting done.

Get your own studying done during evenings and mornings when your children are asleep or having some down time. You could get a head start by planning what you will study at each time.

If your children are teenagers then the key is to balance your time so you can give them the space they need.

If you have more than one child then try to find time while you are isolated to have parent one-to-ones with each of your kids. This could be hot chocolate or breakfast together, reorganising a room, anything that gives opportunity for conversation.

Make the most of having the children at home by involving them in the day to day running of the house – even nursery-age children are able to help with washing-up, dusting and laundry, so you don’t need to wear yourself out whilst they zone out in front of the TV.

If you can balance childcare or caring responsibilities with a partner please consider doing so. In the event that you are finding it impossible to balance childcare or caring responsibilities, or any other issue with your studies, please contact your School Support Office to discuss your individual concerns.

We have reached the end of yet another week during which you have had to further adapt to the challenges of new ways of learning and living. I realise this is a challenging time for all of you as you adapt and adjust to the reality of the impact of COVID-19 on your day-to day-life.

I know many of you have had to return home earlier than you had planned or hoped, leaving behind the many friends you have made here in Canterbury and Medway.

For those of you who remain on our campuses or in your houses and flats locally, you are also adjusting to the new rules of staying home and following the rules of social distancing.

I know that we have asked a lot of all of you in a short space of time during which we have moved to online learning. At the same time, we have had to close buildings because of government requirements and most of our staff are now working from home.

I also know you have a lot of concerns about your final assessments and examinations. Please be assured that we have been working hard to protect your educational outcomes and minimise the impact of the changes we are having to make as we move teaching, learning and examinations, where needed, online.

We have made changes to accommodation charges and for those who need to remain on campus we are providing appropriate support. Health and welfare support services continue to be available to all and can be contacted at wellbeing@kent.ac.uk.

Yet, despite being in such difficult times, I have been witness to acts of kindness, compassion, resilience and ingenuity over the past days as you have supported each other and put in place new ways of keeping your relationships close whilst spending time apart.

Kent Union has been working closely with us to ensure that your needs are fully considered. The sabbatical officer team has been fully involved in our decision-making and the Union has kept services open on campus to support all those students who continue to live on campus. For all this, I offer my thanks and gratitude.

I will continue with regular updates for all students in the days and weeks ahead. For further updates as to how the University community, including Kent Union, is stepping up to help the wider effort to combat Coronavirus, please keep checking our Student News and the Coronavirus – information for students pages. Please keep us updated as to news stories that we can share on all this great community activity.

With my very best wishes to you and your families.

Yours sincerely

Karen

Professor Karen Cox | Vice-Chancellor and President